


One Step At A Time

by a2h1ey



Series: WinterIron Week (Dec. 2020) [3]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adorable Tony Stark, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bucky has no time for y'all's insecurities, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, Happy Ending, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Tony, M/M, Protective Bucky Barnes, Snarky Bucky Barnes, Steve Needs a Hug, Steve Rogers Gets a Hug, Steve is only mentioned but only fluff and happy endings here, Tony Needs a Hug, Tony Stark Gets a Hug, Tony Stark Has A Heart
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-11 00:21:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28116087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/a2h1ey/pseuds/a2h1ey
Summary: What's supposed to be a routine mission ends in some pretty nasty consequences, but Bucky is there to chase the insecurities away with words and cuddles.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes & Steve Rogers, James "Bucky" Barnes & Tony Stark, James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: WinterIron Week (Dec. 2020) [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056809
Kudos: 87
Collections: WinterIron Week





	One Step At A Time

**Author's Note:**

> For WinterIron Week!  
> Day 3: Wednesday  
>  ~~Angst~~ (I guess a tiny smidge of angst but like... mostly fluff & H/C) | “But I did it” | Hurt/Comfort
> 
> Honestly this was supposed to be from Tony's PoV - and a bit from Steve's PoV - but... I guess Bucky really wanted his thoughts known, lol. 
> 
> Anyways, this is mostly just H/C & Fluff, featuring a snarky post-WS Bucky. :)

One mistake. That’s all it took.

And Bucky still isn’t sure how it all went wrong.

It was supposed to be just another routine, villain-of-the-week mission: Doom was causing trouble again, the Fantastic Four was busy, so the Avengers got called in to deal with the Doombots running amok. 

Everything had been going as per usual - Bucky bantered with Steve and Tony over the coms, Clint was being a nuisance by jumping off of buildings every five seconds to ‘relocate to a better location’, Nat snarked whenever a comment was thrown her way, and Thor and the Hulk were having the time of their lives by utterly decimating every ‘bot they could find - when out of nowhere, one of the Doombots got a lucky hit.

Bucky didn’t even really see what happened; one minute Tony was swooping by, catching a few ‘bots that Bucky didn’t catch that swarmed Steve’s position, and the next an explosion rocked the street and surrounding buildings.

One minute Tony was there, and the next… there was just rubble where a building once stood, Steve out of the way and thankfully safe with his shield. 

Tony was gone. As in buried. 

Bucky didn’t fall into the Winter Soldier mindset very often nowadays, but seeing his boyfriend disappear under a collapsed building?

There were few times he snapped into it with such ease as he did then.

It took a while, having to get rid of all of the annoying ‘bots first, but after hauling tons of rubble away they finally found Tony, alive but unconscious, with a broken leg and a teenager trapped under the suit with him, having presumably protected him.

It was easy to say the trip to the hospital was a bit of a blur.

Now, standing in the doorway and watching his boyfriend stare blankly at the ceiling - he knew better, though; there was no hiding the guilt in those doe eyes - from the hospital bed, his best friend in the hallway with his head bowed also in anguished guilt, and the teen in the room next door, still unconscious…

It was all a mess, is what it was.

And if he knew his best friend and his boyfriend - which he did - he knew they were both being idiots, blaming themselves.

Bucky sighed, pushing off from the doorway, before making his way to his boyfriend; make sure he’s okay - and hug the self-sacrificing idiot, with a high chance of kissing him senseless, even though Bucky would have done the same, hell, any of them would have - before dealing with the many insecurities going around.

Tony only glanced at him when he sat in the chair beside him, granting him a weak but true smile; a good sign, and was a damn relief to see after the scare, if nothing else.

“Hey, Buckaroo,” he said with as cheerful a voice as he could fake it; which was admittedly pretty impressive. If he didn’t know his boyfriend better, he might even have fallen for it.

Instead he let it slide - for now - and took Tony’s hand in between his own. Feeling that soft warmth, an affirming proof of life, relaxed that cold harshness inside Bucky enough to push it aside for the time being; this was no time to go Winter Soldier, or ‘Excessive mother-henning mode’, as Tony calls it. 

“You almost gave me a heart attack there, doll; older people like me can’t handle the stress like that,” he joked, and felt a bit better when it earned him a soft huff of a laugh and a stronger, sly grin, whiskey eyes shining in the light.

“Old people are like that, Buckaroo; it comes with the mileage,” he joked back, sassy as always, the little punk. Bucky loved him.

He squeezed his hand gently, reassuring himself that yes, Tony is still alive and well, before diving into the elephant in the room. One of the many things HYDRA did ‘teach’ him was being blunt; there was no point in beating around the bush, no matter the battlefield. 

He studiously ignored the whispering reminder in the back of his head of when he first asked Tony out to a date, and how long it took him just to get himself psyched up to do so. 

“What’s wrong, doll?” Just because he doesn’t beat the bush doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a bit of tact, though; he knew better than to straight out ask Tony about what happened. 

It’s rule number fourteen when handling one Tony Stark: never pressure or try to push him into doing something; he’ll always push back. And when he doesn’t, that’s when something is very, very wrong, and drastic measures should be taken immediately.

Coaxing, though, works fine. Especially when one mastered the ‘soft eyes and soft voice’ as Bucky had, though he hardly ever used it around Tony; he’ll openly admit he’s always soft around his boyfriend, even when he tries not to be.

Tony, thankfully, just sighed, closing his eyes. Bucky clenched his teeth, feeling his heartache when, for one vulnerable second, he clearly could see just how exhausted and guilty and pained he was.

“...I made a mistake; a really bad one.” The ‘as usual’ was left unspoken but clearly heard in the resigned, self-loathing tone. 

Bucky remained quiet, just giving his hand another squeeze; sometimes words just weren’t needed.

Tony swallowed hard, clenching his teeth before continuing. “If only I had seen the doombot sooner, been faster, better, then- but Steve saw, and there was a kid - a kid, Bucky, god, I- and Steve, he was going to get them, but I saw the doombot too late, and- and I only barely made it. If I had been a second slower- but still, I wasn’t fast enough, even then...” He spoke in rambling spurts before trailing off together, but Bucky understood enough of it.

Even though he was almost a hundred percent sure there’s more than a bit missing here - all self-incriminating, as Tony is, and that still made his blood boil, how this amazing man was always thinking so low of himself, but it definitely wasn’t the time - he still got it.

He’s had similar thoughts in previous missions - and almost all the time during his recovery - that he got it.

But that doesn’t mean he was going to stand by and let Tony bury himself like this.

“Babe, doll,” he leaned in closer, shifting one hand to rest against his pillow; like this, he could count every single of those precious, long eyelashes as they brushed against his cheeks. “Hey; listen to me.” He paused, only continuing on when Tony finally peeked his doe eyes up at him; he couldn’t resist dropping a kiss on his cheek when he saw just how sad they were. “You did everything you could. Steve didn’t get buried underneath all that rubble, and yeah, the kid’s in the hospital, but beyond some scrapes and a mild concussion he’ll be just fine.”

Tony frowned, opening his mouth, but Bucky cut him off. “No, I’m gonna stop you right there. You did you’re best, babydoll, and I know you don’t feel it was enough, but you just gotta learn from it and move on.” He knew Tony well enough to know; he felt the same way when things went wrong, after all. He flashed him a cheeky grin, “you got another thing coming if you think I’m going to let you sit here and wallow like that on my watch, sweetheart.”

He paused, then added, “and if anyone’s to blame here, it’s Doom and his subpar robots.”

That finally earned him a huff of a laugh and a small half-grin, and Bucky was going to count it as a win. It faded as Tony turned back pensive, but thankfully more thoughtful this time then guilt ridden. 

Unable to help himself, watching those eyebrows form into an adorable pout - it was a pout, no matter how much Tony may protest otherwise - he leaned forward, dropping another kiss, but this time onto the ridge of his nose. 

He felt kind of stupid and ridiculous when Tony scrunched his nose adorably, turning frowny eyes at Bucky. As usual, he didn’t really care; smile just turning wider. 

Tony squinted his eyes at him - and, Bucky was happy to note, with that playful gleam they were missing sparking back - before he did something he only did around those he completely trusted; he dropped his masks.

Big, uncertain whiskey eyes stared at him, and Bucky couldn’t help but to gently squeeze his hand just a smidge tighter. “But I did it, Bucky.”

As was common whenever Tony’s many, many insecurities came out, he wanted to punch someone; specifically any and all who put such stupid thoughts in his head. As was also common, reassuring his boyfriend took precedence above everything. 

He could just get the list from FRIDAY later; she was always more than happy to help in his… ventures.

For now, he just sighed, “Oh, doll,” and scooted onto the bed, carefully wrapping his boyfriend into his arms.

“No one is omnipotent and can stop everything bad from happening. Not even a superhuman or Iron Man. Or even a god of thunder,” he lightly joked, gently running a hand through Tony’s hair the way he knew he liked it. He was rewarded when Tony just melted against him, again another huff of laugh escaping him.

“...You mean the thing you did with Thor and the Toaster Incident?”

“Hey, that’s uncalled for,” he playfully grumbled, hugging his boyfriend closer in retaliation. “And Thor had it coming; he ate all of the-”

“-the last of the chocolate chip waffles, I know, Bucky Bear.” Tony snarked, and Bucky felt something settle at the life that was slowly returning to Tony.

It was a work in progress. One day, he- they would get there. 

Bucky hummed, a thought coming to him. “How ‘bout this; when you’re out of here, we head to that little ice-cream shop, the one at the corner? We can invite the kid along,” Bucky suggested. 

Tony was quiet for a long moment, long enough Bucky thought he was asleep - he was on some pretty strong drugs for the broken femur and cracked ribs, after all - when a sleepy, bright eye peeked up at him. “...Cookie dough?” 

“With chocolate chips and all,” he promised. 

Tony hummed, snuggling in closer. “Holding you to that.”

“Always got you, babydoll.”

And yeah, Steve is still out there, stewing in his own doubts - really, self-sacrificing idiots, the lot of them; they were lucky Bucky loved them - and the kid and Tony were still in the hospital, but as Tony drifted off to sleep in his arms, he had a feeling things would turn out alright.

(Weeks later Bucky was sitting in the lab, eating his butter pecan ice-cream while Tony and Harley Keener bickered over whether a potato gun was better than a tomato gun, and eating their own ice-creams. Steve was sitting beside him, cup of mint chip forgotten as he lazily sketched. 

Bucky grinned, taking another bite; yeah, things turned out pretty great, in the end.)

**Author's Note:**

> Extra: Not mentioned here is that Tony and by default Bucky all but adopts Harley into the Fam; he surprisingly gets along well with Clint which ends in Lots Of Mischief around the Tower, lol. 
> 
> Was thinking of making it longer and adding Bucky's conversation with Steve, and a bit about Steve and Tony also talking, but... that's too much. So we have this instead; just imagine Bucky's talk with Steve went similarly with Tony's, but more slaps upside the head as best friends/brothers are wont to do. 
> 
> As always, posted on my Tumblr (@saraceaser), and hope this was okay? Writing Bucky's PoV was a lot harder than I anticipated.
> 
> Anyways, hope y'all have a nice rest of your day! <3


End file.
